Early reports show Obamacare enrollment low

About 40,000 to 50,000 people have enrolled in private health care plans using HealthCare.gov — a range far short of White House hopes, according to new numbers reported by the Wall Street Journal Monday.

That figure does not include people who signed up using state exchanges. Avalere Healthcare, a consulting firm, estimated Monday that about 49,000 people had successful enrolled in insurance in 12 of the 15 states running their own insurance exchange. The largest state exchange, California, has not released numbers.

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The numbers also exclude enrollments in Medicaid, which have vastly outpaced the number of sign-ups in the marketplace in states like Kentucky and Washington, which have released early figures. A separate Avalere report on 10 of the states expanding Medicaid found that 444,000 have signed up for Medicaid.

Those figures don’t include enrollments in Medicaid, which have vastly outpaced the number of sign-ups in the marketplace in states like Kentucky and Washington, which have released early figures. A separate Avalere report on 10 of the states expanding Medicaid found that 444,000 have signed up for Medicaid.

The Obama administration declined to confirm the Wall Street Journal figures. They have said the totals for the first month would be “very low” because of the web site problems.

“We cannot confirm these numbers,” Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Joanne Peters said. “[A]s we have said, the problems with the website will cause the numbers to be lower than initially anticipated.” HHS intends to release its first round of enrollment figures later this week.

Robert Laszewski, a health industry consultant, said the Journal report is consistent with the industry data he has seen. He said he’s seen “hard data from a representative number of carriers.”

Administration officials have said the sign-up system will be on track for most Americans by the end of November, but they’ve also lowered expectations in recent days, noting that work on bugs and glitches will continue into the new year.

Republicans quickly pounced on the news as evidence that Obamacare is unraveling.

“That the Administration’s enrollment numbers will fall short of expectations — as indicated by recent press reports — should come as no surprise given the monumental challenges involving Obamacare’s implementation,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). “Whether it’s higher costs, fewer choices or simply website glitches, it’s becoming more clear with each passing day that this law isn’t ready for prime time and should be delayed.”